


Actaeon

by bigscarythings



Category: Magia Record: Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story, Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magika | Puella Magi Madoka Magica
Genre: Emotional Constipation, F/F, Jealousy, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-02
Updated: 2020-01-02
Packaged: 2021-02-27 11:54:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,660
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22076548
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bigscarythings/pseuds/bigscarythings
Summary: Kokoro meets a stranger while hiking, and the brief encounter leaves Masara with many questions and no easy answers.
Relationships: Awane Kokoro/Kagami Masara
Comments: 4
Kudos: 30





	Actaeon

Masara’s heels came loose in her boots again. She crouched down to fix the laces, which made Kokoro notice, too. “I can get that–”

“It’s fine,” Masara said. “I need to learn.” 

“Got it!” Kokoro smiled and sat down between some tree roots, under the shade of the turning leaves that still clung to branches. “Just let me know if you need a hand.”

Masara had practiced before with videos. Their last trip, they’d lost time from her fixing her laces until Kokoro tied them, patiently, meticulous, yet brief. With the forecast calling for rain, she needed to work quickly.

It shouldn’t have been hard. It didn’t help that a distraction was coming. She heard multiple people chattering around the fork in the path, and soon the forest was bustling with six raucous people traveling in a group. They looked a few years older - third years, perhaps, or even university students. Everyone greeted the two of them, and must have taken Kokoro’s ease as a signal that they could settle down, too, throwing down backpacks, sitting on them, pulling out phones and maps and chattering. Masara and Kokoro wouldn’t be here for long, but that didn’t make the noise any less grating.

One woman must have thought similarly, glancing away from their group, nodding at Masara. Her eyes, however, settled on Kokoro. At this angle, Masara could see them open up a bit behind her sunglasses. Her lips curled. “Cute shirt! I love plaid!” she said with a raised voice, going over to sit beside Kokoro.

“Oh? Me? Thanks!”

Masara’s stomach turned. It couldn’t have been something she ate.

Was it a witch? She detected no magic. She scanned the others for any sign of a witch’s kiss - nothing. And yet she noticed how her body had automatically tensed, with her hands clamped around laces. She forced herself to relax her shoulders.

They were talking so easily. Masara couldn’t hear what they were saying. It reminded her of the first day they met, when Kokoro told her everything. But today - what was Kokoro saying? What was she telling her? She didn’t understand that sudden fixation, that need, her blood feeling hot in her hands. This was not a dangerous situation. Kokoro could easily defend herself against anyone who wasn’t a magical girl, and this woman obviously wasn’t one, but. But.

The woman bumped against Kokoro’s shoulder and Kokoro jumped, and even for that, nothing, nothing could come to Masara’s throat. Her limbs were useless. Her breathing had quickened without realizing it. Her heart was pounding like she was in a race. It was all she could hear. She dropped the laces. Her body simply wouldn’t move to do anything else.

What did she want? What did she want? The woman gestured at Kokoro’s water bottle as she spoke; Kokoro handed it right over. The woman took it, drinking it.

Her hands were cupped in a way that reminded Masara of a documentary - a hunter, drinking water directly from an icy lake, his eyes lighting on the other side of the expanse. Him seeing the doe before the doe saw him. 

Her hands were cupped, just as they were when the hunter called for owls hiding in the snowy branches, moments before he shot them down.

She was pushing herself up as those images played and replayed themselves like an aching wound.

“You okay?” a man asked. 

Masara barely realized he had spoken. “I’m fine.”

Why her body moved now and not when she willed it, she didn’t understand. She couldn’t fully focus on anything as it moved by itself to stand across from Kokoro. Clearly this was urgent; possibly her instincts were detecting a threat she hadn’t consciously recognized. Even so, she didn’t know what she was trying to say. “I’m sorry to interrupt.”

“Hey, Masara! Right, this is my friend, Masara, and Masara, this is–”

She abruptly realized the boots, was this why she was here? “If you could help me–”

“Sure thing,” Kokoro said instantly, getting onto one knee, “I got this!”

“Yo,” one man called out to the three of them, “these two jackholes are about to fight, you wanna figure out where we’re going or are you gonna keep gabbing?”

“Yeah, give me a second!” the woman called back, before turning to Kokoro. “Look, I’d love to forget about these stooges, but they’re gonna get themselves killed in these woods if I don’t drag them home. Like I said, I’ll be around - we’re part of a university group.” Her smile, slight, suddenly curled as it did when she first laid eyes on Kokoro. “We’d love to have you around. Well…” She cocked her head to the side. “I’d love to have you around. Just give me your number and let us know if you can–”

“I can,” Kokoro blurted, “I’ll - I’ll just look you up!”

The woman chuckled, a low sound, before dropping the sunglasses back over her dark eyes. “I hope you do, Kokoro.”

The woman went back to her group. Whatever danger there was couldn’t possibly be a threat to them at that distance, but Masara was still tense. It seemed like Kokoro felt the same. She breathed out, a long exhale, rubbing her hands against the pockets of her shirt.

Masara caught her in the eye. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah!” Kokoro widened her eyes. “I’m fine!”

Masara’s eyes were on Kokoro’s lips. She thought of the bottle. She didn’t know why. The woman hadn’t drank that much. They hadn’t wasted it. “All right. Let’s get going. We shouldn’t risk the rain.”

“Yeah,” Kokoro murmured, blinking a few times. “Definitely.”

Masara felt her skin prickle down her back as they returned to their hike. She kept looking over her shoulder to ensure there were no threats. Even with the sunglasses, she could tell the woman was still looking their way. At Kokoro’s way.

Each cracking branch under her feet was like the snap of a gun, of a guillotine.

\- - - 

They didn't get the chance to visit the café that Kokoro had recommended they try weeks ago, but it meant Masara made it home before the rain fell. She assumed Kokoro did too, until she settled in for bed, and the question sprung up - what if she hadn’t?

It was absurd. Kokoro was more than capable of bringing herself home. The thought still gripped her like a parasitic root.

It wasn’t healthy to take a phone into bed. By no means was this an emergency. Kokoro was an adult. Still, she needed to check. She went to her desk and texted Kokoro.

_Are you home?_

Kokoro responded after just seconds. _Yes, why?_

She considered different responses. _I don't know. I was worried._ She glanced up at her calendar. 

_We'd scheduled another hike before the end of the season. Will you start hiking with that group?_ Just after she sent it, she realized that wasn't exactly her concern. _With that woman,_ she should have said.

Before she could send it, her phone buzzed in her hands - a call. Kokoro. “What’s wrong?”

Kokoro’s voice made her feel - she felt something. She’d felt it before around Kokoro. It was sickening and alien and strange. Nausea yet warmth. “Is that what you were worried about? The rest of the hike became so tense, I thought you were - I didn’t know what was wrong–”

“You noticed.” Kokoro's parents, Masara realized, the patterns of their fights - logically, she would be sensitive to those things. “I didn’t know what to say. I wasn’t sure what was wrong, either.”

Kokoro laughed. “Don’t worry, I’m not signing up with them! I like it when it’s just the two of us.”

“All right. A smaller group is easier to coordinate.” The image of their bickering came up again. “They were noisy, too,” she added.

“I talk all the time, though.”

That was true. “But it’s not noise.”

Those words came out of Masara’s mouth without consideration. She felt weak again, nauseous. She sat onher bed.

When Kokoro finally spoke, she was quiet. “That’s a relief.” 

Masara didn't respond. What came to mind were Kokoro's habits during silences, how she looped her fingers through loose hair.

“You know," Kokoro said, "when you came up to me to help tie your boots - I think that was the first time I’ve ever seen you blush. Were you embarrassed? You don't have to feel bad at all.”

It reminded Masara of her parents’ tendency to point out when she smiled. Sometimes, when she came home from hunting or hiking with Kokoro, she was evidently smiling without her awareness. She realized there were other things she wasn’t aware of. She disliked seeing Kokoro hurt, yes. Yet it didn't make sense for her to dislike Kokoro being...happy? Simply talking? Was it frustration because Masara was the only one to recognize something - dangerous? It had all the fundamental sensations of danger. In the end, however, nothing happened.

Puzzling this out was tiring. No wonder she was exhausted. “It wasn’t a pleasant feeling," she decided.

“Sorry. I didn't think I'd put you in that position. Seriously, don't be afraid to ask if you need help. You just - you looked cute, that's all." She immediately started yammering for a few seconds before she became vaguely comprehensible– "–well, I, more like, you’re beautiful, I just thought - it’s late and we should go to bed. I’ll talk to you at school tomorrow! Good night!”

“Good night.”

The rain pattered against her window, their walls, all around the building. Her trophies gleamed from their shelves because the streetlights through the murky window.

She only knew feelings by the sum of her sensations. She couldn’t grasp at them all. Pushing her toes into the cold wooden floor, looking at the trophies, she remembered something else. She remembered the snow-white creature perched across from her, its eyes shining in the dark.

There was one feeling she knew, burning her.

She wanted.

She thought of Kokoro again.

_She wanted._


End file.
